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Murders leave Kisii upset by magnitude of insecurity

Details

Published on Wednesday, 01 December 2010 16:40

When robbers broke into the home of retired clergyman Michael Nyakundi and killed him in September, Kisii residents were tongue-tied.

The armed gang stormed the home in Ikuruma, Kisii County and forced him to lie on his bed, before shooting him at a close range as his wife watched.

The Rev Nyakundi, 85, had pleaded with the thugs to spare him in vain. He gave them an unknown sum of money but they still murdered him. They did not steal any other item.

The clergyman’s killing prompted the beheading of four suspected gangsters by the dreaded Sungu Sungu vigilante group in the same village.

During an emotional burial for Nyakundi, attended by West Mugirango MP James Gesami, mourners demanded an assurance from the Government on their security.

"We are yet to come to terms with our father’s murder. He had just returned from the US after undergoing an expensive spinal surgery that cost the family Sh5 million. Why would anyone want to kill an 85-year-old man?" said his son Asha Nyakundi.

Asha says his last born brother, who lives in the US, is inconsolable following their father’s demise at the hands of criminals.

He adds: "There are criminal elements in Bomburia, where an individual makes home-made guns. One such gun was recovered by police days after our father’s murder".

Police in Kisii arrested and interrogated five people, including a retired assistant chief and a former councillor in connection with the murder. "My family requested for an independent investigation by detectives from Nairobi, who discovered a network of criminals that stretches up to Oyugis town. We need a shake-up of security officials in Kisii because some of them are sympathetic to criminals," Asha added.

In the neighbouring Nyagwekoa sub-location in Nyamira County, the family of Jusper Otiso, 19, a KCSE candidate shot by thugs, lives in fear after the cold blooded murder.

"We were having supper at 8pm when three men armed with a pistol stormed our house and demanded money," says Rhoda Nyaboke, the deceased’s mother. The thugs demanded Sh50,000 the family had received from a merry-go-round.

"My son attempted to move and the gangsters apparently thought he wanted to escape and raise the alarm, so they shot him dead," recalls Nyaboke.

Nyanza PCIO Joseph Mogwanja visited the crime-prone area and assured residents criminals would be brought to book.